UPPER MERION — Amid the festive atmosphere and throngs of fans amassed to see the Philadelphia Union kick off their preseason training, perhaps the most notable name wasn’t on the pitch at YSC Sports.

Manager John Hackworth made it clear, both in an open letter to fans posted on the Union’s website Sunday night and to the media Monday afternoon, that the “time has passed” for Freddy Adu’s stay in Philadelphia.

Though Adu remains under contract with the team, they are actively trying to move him to another destination. He was not at YSC Sports with the rest of the team as they opened their preseason preparations.

“Basically what happened was that we presented Freddy with a couple scenarios that we would be happy bringing him back under certain conditions,” Hackworth explained. “Freddy came back and said, ‘hey, I’m going to stick with my current situation and play under the current one’ and he knew that we made it very clear that if that was his choice — and he has that option as he’s under contract to us — but that if he made that choice, he wasn’t going to be coming back as part of the team.”

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The crux of the argument by Hackworth and the team was that Adu’s productivity was no longer keeping pace with his cost. The final totals for his year-and-a-half stay in Philadelphia are seven goals and one assist in 37 matches, a far cry from the promise with which the former phenom blew into town two years ago after a mottled journey through Europe.

The considerations for cutting ties with Adu were mostly financial, but Hackworth admitted that his on-field production also played a factor. The move is also a further distancing of Hackworth from the bygone regime of Peter Nowak, who used his connections to Adu, his former pupil at D.C. United, to lure the attacking midfielder to Chester after an undistinguished four-year, four-nation jaunt through Europe’s minor leagues.

“When it comes to the contractual part, it’s pretty much just financial,” Hackworth said, adding that the decision was several months in the making. “But a lot of it had to do with the role that Freddy would play within our team, especially when you compare him and his stature within our locker room relative to guys that were in there. Contract-wise, it was mostly financial, but there were some things that we wanted to talk about and make sure was understood.”

Adu was not available for comment Monday, according to agent Richard Motzkin.

The numbers were certainly underwhelming for a player who was expected to be — and was paid as — a top player. The Union’s record when Adu started over the last two years is a respectable 9-9-7, but most of those wins came in 2011 when the club made its first and only playoff appearance. This season, they were a pedestrian 7-9-3 when Adu started, including 2-6-0 when he played the full 90 minutes, featuring a five-game winless stretch from April to June that ultimately decided the fate of the season.

Signs of distress were evident on several occasions late last season when Adu was displeased with being substituted, and he was left on the bench as an unused substitute in the penultimate game of the season, a 1-0 win against New England.

Adu also presented a selection dilemma for the Union. Used primarily as a left-midfielder, Adu lacked the speed and work rate needed for such a position. With the team likely falling into a 4-3-3 formation this year, and the goal-scoring burden falling on the well-compensated shoulders of offseason acquisitions Sebastien Le Toux and Conor Casey, opportunities seemed to be even scarcer and Adu became expendable.

Hackworth acknowledged that the long-term nature of Adu’s deal was an impediment to offloading him on another MLS club, so the team will be working hard to find an overseas suitor before the international transfer window closes at the end of January.

Regardless of the inability to forge a working relationship with him, Hackworth struck a familiar refrain in singing the praises of the enigmatic Adu.

“Freddy’s a very talented young man,” Hackworth said. “I’ve said it many times before, but I don’t think many people have an appreciation for Freddy the way that I do as far as the things that he can do on the field and the things that he’s capable of. But he certainly didn’t meet the very lofty expectations that were placed on him within our team.”

The rest of the squad didn’t appear to be missing much as they were put through their paces in front of several hundred spectators, chalking up Adu’s departure to just the normal business of the game.

“That’s part of business,” said defender Bakary Soumare, who broke into MLS in 2007. “This is my fourth team in the past seven years, and everyone approaches it the same way. Guys come and go, and it’s unfortunate sometimes, but that’s just how the business works. When you’re part of a team that hasn’t been successful the year before, you try to make a few changes to make the team better. If Freddy is not part of the team this year, that’s just the way it is. We’ll move on, and we’ll be OK.”

The other highly discussed departure of the day was former captain and central defender Carlos Valdes, whom the club let leave on loan to Independiente Santa Fe in his native Colombia last week.

While the hole the 27-year-old leaves in defense will require some time to be patched over, the leadership void was filled Monday when it was announced that Brian Carroll would take over the captain’s armband.

The 31-year-old Carroll is entering his third season with the club and has established himself as a fixture in the center of midfield, appearing in 63 league games over the last two seasons. He’s been in MLS since 2003 and is approaching 300 league games.

“We’re very excited about that,” Hackworth said of Carroll’s promotion. “Brian has certainly earned that opportunity through his actions and his character and the way he exemplified himself as a fantastic leader last year in support of Carlos.”

In much the same way that Carroll aided Valdes in assuming the role last season, Hackworth said that he expects a litany of veterans, including Le Toux and defender Chris Albright, to aid the nominal captain with leadership in the locker room. Carroll is the team’s fourth captain in the club’s fourth season of existence, joining defender Danny Califf and goalkeeper Faryd Mondragon.